WOMEN on Boards (WOB) has welcomed the NSW Premier’s $120 million commitment to make before and after school care available to public primary schools by 2021.

The co-founders of Women on Boards, Claire Braund and Ruth Medd, said the commitment by Gladys Berejiklian over the weekend could be a game changer for women and a break-through in the thorny issue of closing the gender pay gap.

"This announcement by the Premier is significant and very welcome. Lack of before and after school care has been a major irritant for parents and carers - mothers in particular - for way too long," Ms Medd and Ms Braund said in a prepared statement.

“Many families have struggled with the 9am-3pm school hours and the lack of appropriate on-site childcare for even an hour or so either side of school drop off and pick up times.

“In most cases, something has to give - and usually it’s the women’s job that is either scaled back to part-time or given up entirely, with the consequent impact of reduced job prospects, fewer opportunities for promotion, lower pay and less retirement savings.”

The WOB duo said they, alongside the National Foundation for Australian Women, had been actively advocating for many years for more supportive before and after care services, including making submissions to the Productivity Commission and lobbying politicians.

They said such a policy would be a boon for struggling parents and economically significant for the state of NSW and women for many reasons:

• Boost worker numbers in a state with the lowest unemployment rate in Australia.

• Result in more hours in more senior roles worked by women - fueling economic growth and assisting to close the gender pay gap.

• Provide women and men with better and more secure job prospects while their children are at school.

• Deliver a more structured arrangement for care for children will reduce family anxiety and stress and increase well-being.

Ms Medd and Ms Braund said that, depending on its design and execution, the NSW Liberal policy commitment would enhance female workforce attachment at a time when there has been slight slow-down in women’s workforce participation.

“Labour force data shows women with dependent children tend to work part time until the youngest child has left primary school," the joint statement said. "This continues over their life span - in fact the rates of full-time work for Australian women have not increased at all in 40 years.  And for women of child rearing age it has declined slightly.

“In the meantime women continue to take an unequal load in caring duties - preventing them from returning full time to work until children are older; by which time their employment prospects are diminished relative to their peers; hence exacerbating gender pay gap into perpetuity.”
 
Ms Medd and Braund said the next major challenge was in the provision of appropriate support care for shift-workers or those working non-standard hours.

KEY FACTS

NSW Premier's $120million before and after school care plan could:

- Boost worker numbers in a state with the lowest unemployment rate in Australia.
- Result in more hours in more senior roles worked by women - fueling economic growth and assisting to close the gender pay gap.
- Provide women and men with better and more secure job prospects while their children are at school.
- Deliver a more structured arrangement for care for children will reduce family anxiety and stress and increase well-being.

About WOB

Women on Boards (WOB) has been working for more than 10 years to address gender inequity in the boardroom and across leadership roles. WOB is a recognised leader in the ecosystem of organisations and networks promoting and supporting women; dedicated to breaking down barriers to entry into leadership and onto boards. WOB has a track-record of success and is known for its strategic and practical events and programs. WOB's aim is to have 40 percent of these roles occupied by women by 2025. Targets are essential and quotas will sometimes be necessary to achieve WOB's goal. As strong advocates for women, WOB works across organisations and sectors and with government on a meaningful and strategic policy and cultural change agenda for gender equity.

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RESOURCES sector companies are focused on building stronger bonds and delivering even more returns to local communities, as part of recognition of the challenges facing business, government and institutions when it comes to trust. 

The Queensland Resources Council’s (QRC) latest quarterly State of the Sector survey has found the sector is working with communities even closer to bring them to the heart of day-to-day decision making.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the survey of resource chiefs reinforced the wider view across other industries that the private sector must act to prevent losing trust with the public.

“Across corporate Australia, government and institutions, there is a clear message that the public is watching and wants businesses to be an active part of their communities,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“Companies are listening to this community feedback and responding to the challenge, increasingly focusing their time and resources on their social licence to operate.

“Close to three quarters of resource companies surveyed said community and social performance was embedded in their day-to-day business decision making and 84 percent of CEOs estimate they spend about the same or more time on community and social aspects of their business as they do economic and technical.

“Over the next 12 months an overwhelming majority expect to invest more on working with local communities, with 68 percent of companies surveyed committed to increasing or significantly increasing community and social capability.”

"As an industry, we need to be strengthening our linkage with our communities and local stakeholders," Mr Macfarlane said. "Mining offers so much locally - yet we are not doing a great job in reinforcing these links."

Mr Macfarlane said the December quarter survey also highlighted the growing risks around the sector’s ability to retain and attract skilled employees.

“The survey found the scarcity of skills was now in its third quarter as a top concern for CEOs as the sector continues to grow employment after a significant and lengthy downturn,” he said.
 
"Attracting and retaining capable leaders and engineering candidates are key issues. Finding skilled labour, particularly statutory qualified personnel in the underground industry, is a significant challenge."

There was some good news on the outlook for the 316,000 men and women supported by the sector with the expectation of another record year of coal and LNG exports in 2019 driven by Asia’s insatiable appetite for Queensland’s resources.

www.qrc.org.au

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THE Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) has launched Return to Learn, an online education portal designed to cut through misinformation and confusion about FASEA’s higher education requirements.

Released this week after months of rigorous testing, the Return to Learn education portal promises easy access to accurate information on the latest education and ethics policy developments and implications, as well as study tools.

“There are many thousands of ethical, professional, committed financial planners around Australia ready to do what it takes to meet FASEA requirements between now and 2024. Many are confused by misinformation flying around as to what they need to do next, however, and frankly there’s no time for confusion: Australia needs us to take the high road when it comes to education and ethics,” FPA CEO, Dante De Gori CFP said.

Return to Learn was developed in-house by the FPA’s education and policy experts with co-operation from FASEA-approved tertiary education providers.

It includes accurate explanations of FASEA policies, Code of Ethics and education tools in one central hub as well as a guide to study credits, video tutorials on topics like preparing for exams, and information on various approved tertiary education providers including course costs and required time commitments, for example.

“Return to Learn cuts through the noise and misinformation to make the path forward as clear and easy as possible for our 14,000+ FPA members to navigate,” Mr De Gori said.

New CPD standards of 40 hours a year apply from January 1, 2019, and a key foundation of the financial advice reforms is a new Code of Ethics that all advisers will have to comply with from January 1, 2020. All advisers need to pass an industry exam by January 1, 2021.

Tools and information now available to FPA members on the Return to Learn portal:

Education pathways tool – Helps members identify what further studies they will need to undertake to comply with the new FASEA education standards.

Cost comparison tool – A program and fee comparison of FASEA-approved degrees that helps members find the most suitable degree - including a comparison of the credits each university will allocate to members who have completed the 5-unit CFP Certification Program. It also includes links to the university Credit and Recognition of Prior Learning policies. The FPA has formally applied to FASEA for accreditation of all education pathways into the CFP Certification Program where FASEA has not already awarded credits.

FASEA exam study guidance – A range of study resources including academic writing and referencing guides, how to prepare for exams, tips for time management and much more is available in the education hub. FASEA’s practice exam and recommend reading lists will also be available once released by FASEA.   

FPA CPD policy ­– The latest FPA CPD policy is available and has been updated to align with the new FASEA requirements. FPA members and licensees can adopt the FPA CPD policy as their own by March 31, 2019.

www.fpa.com.au

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THE DIRE state of legal assistance funding in Australia has been highlighted as a matter of critical importance in the Law Council of Australia’s 2019-20 Pre-Budget Submission, with a boost of at least $310 million a year required to address critical gaps in the system.

Additional funding should also be provided to introduce Justice Impact Tests, improve resourcing of federal courts, and establish a National Justice Interpreter Scheme, said Law Council president, Arthur Moses SC.

“Legal assistance funding in Australia is abysmal and in need of urgent review. Some of our most vulnerable people are slipping through the cracks, as the Law Council’s Justice Project illustrates,” Mr Moses said.

“At least $310 million a year is needed to provide adequate funding for Legal Aid Commissions, community legal centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services and family violence prevention legal services. This would provide a much needed injection of funds for frontline legal services to increase civil legal assistance and will come close to restoring the Commonwealth’s share of funding for Legal Aid Commissions to 50 percent.

“Commonwealth legal aid funding is at its lowest in decades. In 1997 the Federal Government spent $11.22 per capita. Today, it is spending less than $8 per capita. Many living under the poverty line are ineligible.

“Disadvantaged Australians are not the only ones impacted by the shortfall. Many Australians simply can’t afford legal representation and if required to attend court, are forced to appear alone. Lives are being destroyed because successive governments have failed to invest in critical social justice infrastructure.”

In the UK, Justice Impact Tests have proven to be a vital tool in facilitating the smoother development of laws and policies with downstream impacts on the justice system and ensuring adequate funding is provided for any repercussions. The Law Council believes such a system should be implemented in Australia.

The Law Council’s submission also calls for urgent additional funding of the federal courts, especially the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

“Australia’s family law system is chronically under-resourced, under-funded and overburdened. Families and children are having to wait up to three years, in many cases more, to have matters heard. As the federal courts’ workloads continue to increase, more resourcing is desperately needed to keep up with demand. This must include appointing further judges and registrars, and additional legal assistance,” Mr Moses said.

“Law Council calls on the Australian Government to commission a review of the resourcing needs of federal courts and tribunals in consultation with the community and key stakeholders. There is also a need for a national interpreter scheme to assist those for whom English is not their first language to access justice.”

Other key funding priorities identified by the Law Council include the need to: Adopt and adequately resource a transparent judicial appointments process; and establish and adequately resource a Federal Judicial Commission to provide training for federal judges as well as a fair mechanism to hear any complaints that may be made against the judiciary.

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